The unit of power used in Phoenix Rising is the Pulse, a unit that is roughly equivalent to the amount of environmental power required to cast a cantrip once. A first level spell uses roughly 10 Pulses, and spells of higher level use twice as many Pulses per level (this means that lower-level spells cast as if they were higher-level would charge accordingly.) This does not affect the average caster, but is worth noting when they are interacting with manatech.
Most manatech runs off of Pulses, stored in magical crystals that operate as a sort of rechargeable battery. The conversion rate is not completely efficient, but those with magical talent often make a good sideline as 'battery chargers', renting out their ability to recharge magical items. Some individuals use Drawstones, special conversion units that draw the Pulses they need directly out of the user; mages-in-potentia are often detected by seeing if they can activate a simple prestidigitation-cantrip cleaning cloth or similar domestic object.
While Pulses can be directly used to cast spells, they can also be indirectly used to perform work similar to electricity. A rough conversion rate (for now) is to assume that one Pulse is approximately equivalent to 1000 mAh, the capacity of a typical nickel-cadmium electric battery. (At 1.2 volts, this translates to 1.2 Watt-hours, or 1.2 Watts over a period of an hour, or 4,320 Watts for one second… we can be lazy and say 1 Pulse equals 4 kilowatt-seconds, and call that good enough for now. It means that an appliance that requires 10 KW to run burns 2.5 Pulses per second, or three first-level spell slots every 2 rounds of combat, if you felt particularly silly.)
Ambient magic is the amount of energy drawn from the environment to cast a spell or perform a function. For example, a cantrip only uses 1 Pulse from the end-user (the caster), but also consumes 3 Pulses from the environment. The amount of energy the environment can provide depends on the environment – in a low-mana zone, mana batteries might struggle to perform as they have to do much more work, and recharge slower, while in a high-mana zone, mana batteries last longer and recharge faster.
The following is a condensed version of a lecture one might receive if studying advanced arcanics (a polite way to say “the physics of magic”).
| Mana Level | PCF | Layman's Description | Environmental Mana Burned Per Pulse | Effective Spell Cost | Failure Rate | Misfire Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dead Zone | Absolute Zero. | This is an area that has been completely burned out as far as mana is concerned. This can be caused by extreme over-use of high-powered magic with no ability to replenish the environment, or by certain effects that deliberately block environmental mana from being usable in some way. | None. | x4. Spells effectively use four times as many slots as usual, and cantrips use 4 Pulses to cast. This can quickly burn up a user's magical potential. The environment may actively leech mana from highly magical individuals, causing them physical harm while they remain in the area (1 HP per round), and may leech Pulses from those who have them (1 Pulse per minute). | 25%. There is a good chance that nothing at all will happen when you cast in a dead zone, even for the most basic of spells. | 0%. There is no chance of environmental backlash when there is no mana to backlash against. |
| Very Low Mana | < 0.1 PCF. | This is an aggressively over-industrialized region where magic has been used constantly and is not replenishing itself well. | x1. The normal cost of the spell is withdrawn from the environment, but the caster does most of the work. | x3. A caster in a very low mana environment who has three first level spell slots would use them all to cast a first level spell in such an environment. | 10%. There is a slight chance that magic will simply fail to work under these conditions, problematic when said magic is vitally important. | 1%. There is almost no chance of environmental backlash in such an environment; wild surges are incredibly rare. |
| Low Mana | < 0.5 PCF. | This is a fairly typical result for regions with heavy magic use that do not practice environmental sustainability. | x2. A cantrip would burn 2 Pulses of environmental mana, for example. | x2. A cantrip would also burn 2 Pulses from the caster, while other spells would use twice as many spell slots as usual. | 5%. There is a chance that magic will not function as intended. | 2%. There is a chance that magic will backlash here, but the chance is very, very low. |
| Normal Mana | 0.5 to 1.5 PCF. | This is most locations where mana has been allowed to equalize over time, or 'situation normal' for most casters. | x3. For every Pulse used by a caster, 3 Pulses are burned from the environment. | x1. This is normal casting costs; 1 Pulse for a cantrip, 10 Pulses for a first level spell, 20 Pulses for a second level spell, etc. | 1%. There is a practically negligible chance that a spell will generate no results at all. | 5%. There is a chance that magic will backlash, but it is considered unlikely. |
| High Mana | 1.5 to 3 PCF. | This is what scientists call 'ideal mana conditions' – areas in which magic is allowed to pool and can be easily used and manipulated. It can occur naturally during storms, when mana patterns are diverted. | x4. For every Pulse used by a caster, 4 Pulses are burned from the environment. | -1. Normal casting costs apply, but cantrips are free, and those with very sensitive instruments would note 1 Pulse less than usual used on bigger spells. | 1%. There is a practically negligible chance that a spell will generate no results at all. | 10%. There is a chance of magical disaster for the clueless, and even experts might make a mistake every now and then. |
| Very High Mana | 3 to 8 PCF. | This is not a safe place. It's unclear whether very high magic causes storms or storms cause very high magic, but usually the only place you will find a very high mana zone is in a controlled laboratory setting or during a major weather event. | x10. For each Pulse burned by a caster, 10 Pulses are burned from the environment. | -10*. This means that cantrips are free, first level spells cost as much as a cantrip, second level spells cost as much as first level spells, etc. That's the good news. | 0%. There is no chance that -nothing- will happen in a very high mana zone unless you actually screw up the spell. | 20%. There is, however, a good chance that what happens will not be exactly what you had in mind, and a small chance that it will all go pear-shaped. |
| Extreme Mana | 8 PCF or more. | Run. Nothing should ever register as an extreme mana zone. If anything does, get away from it and for goddess' sakes get rid of any non-ruggedized manatech on your person as it is likely to explode in very short order. Entities with any Pulses at all get 'refilled' at the rate of 1 Pulse per round, and also take 1 point of damage per round, plus 1d4 points of damage once they are 'fully charged' and can't hold any more. | x50. When any spell is cast, it burns up fifty times the normal amount of mana from the environment. Worried? You should be. | -10*. This does not make spellcasting any easier than in a very-high mana zone; cantrips are free, and everything else costs 1 spell slot less. | 0%. There is absolutely no chance that nothing will happen if magic is triggered. | 50%. Machina becomes extremely dangerous in an extreme-mana zone, and even experienced mages will start to see bad effects crop up in short order. Keep out. |
PCF?: An environmental mana level is measured in PCF (Pulses per Cubic Foot). 1 PCF is normal; abrupt changes in this magical 'pressure' can be detected by anyone with proper skills, and scientific equipment can measure this precisely to determine how 'pressurized' the environment is. Burning 100 Pulses of environmental mana in a normal mana area (1 PCF), effectively, creates a dead zone 10 cubic feet by 10 cubic feet in size for 1 round, after which mana stabilizes over time. (Potential arcanists who are fond of fluid dynamics can figure out how this would work in reality, but for gaming abstractions it really doesn't matter most of the time.
Burn Rate?: How much mana is burned from the environment doesn't usually matter unless operating on a mega-industrial scale; it's mostly included for consistency's sakes and because there are pieces of sensory equipment that can effectively determine when a spell is cast by measuring the burn rate compared to the current PCF level. This is otherwise probably mostly fluff.
Failure?: Typically, when someone who is competent at a spell casts it (spells that are part of a trained class), there is no chance of failure except in a dead zone. However, people who don't understand the underlying arcanics behind the magic an item uses, for example, have to check to see if nothing happens.
Backlash?: Characters that are inherently prone to wild surges and similar magical backlashes use this chance instead of their normal chance; otherwise, as above, this is the chance that something will go wrong in a major way when you don't know what you're doing. In addition, when the backlash chance is above 10%, there is a chance equal to 1/10th of the backlash chance of the backlash being catastrophically disastrous for an inexperienced user or wild-surge-prone user, or for a wild surge for normally completely immune individuals, or for a wild surge to spontaneously happen just because. Magic is not a toy, and the understanding of arcanics doesn't encompass every possibility.
Self-recharging items basically utilize an attachment that draws power in slowly from the environment over time. The typical rate of recharge is in Pulses per hour. For example, an item that regains 10 Pulses per hour could cast a first-level spell again after a short (one-hour) rest.
You'll note up above that too much mana, and too little mana, are both considered Very Bad Things. The basic solution for this is to heavily insulate conductive metals, and use them to transmit a constant stream of Pulse, which can be tapped by appliances to effectively generate a normal-mana environment regardless of what's going on outside. However, downed wires can result in heightened mana contamination in the area, which in turn may result in magical accidents.
Aside from providing a consistent environment to cast from, these can effectively provide 'building power' to appliances (in short, the caster -and- environment cost are paid by the wire as long as the connection to the power plant is solid.)
Well… yes and no. Effectively, you are tapping into an extreme-mana source, so you're setting yourself up for disaster of some sort when you try. (You aren't the first student to ask why you can't just hold a live power wire and start throwing fireballs.) There will be pain, there will be burning, and though you can probably grab a wire and cast a quick spell, it has a very good chance of blowing up directly in your face and burning your hand off in the process.
Essentially, machina designed for use in the home is designed to safely handle and convert this massive power source into something that won't kill you. Just as electrical transformers step down electrical voltage, mana transformers step down magical current. This means that while live wires may have a PCF in the thousands, what goes into your house may 'only' be 10 PCF – still enough not to want to stick a finger in a socket, but enough that a properly sized container can disperse this power to a safe level. 10PCF in a 10 cubic foot 'chamber' in the corner of your house = 1 PCF power for your appliances.
At the risk of invoking a trope, it's magical - a wizard did it. It's meant to use mostly consistent rules, without bogging down in fluff unless you really, really wanted to know. In most cases, all you need to know is that some items require 'building power' and don't track power used unless there's a backup crystal or something, and other items require a mana crystal with so much charge in it.
Classes available in 3.5-PR borrow from Pathfinder:
(http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advancedClassGuide/classOptions/index.html)
Technologies to Know About:
Additional Races:
Additional Creatures:
Deities Followed: